By Hastings Yobe
Since the beginning of this year (2023) UNILIA- Kaning’ina campus has experienced two attempted Suicide cases, which pamtondo currently knows of.
One, happened in January involving a first year male student Who wanted to stab himself with a knife and the other just happened recently where another first year male student tried to throw himself to a moving truck.
While these issues among students might appear simple taken as jokes, they are not. Suicide is a big issue that needs to be handled seriously and requires serious attention considering it's gravity on the lives of these students.
But what is the school doing to deal with such cases? Do they know of these cases?
Yes they do know of them. Both of these two cases were taken to police and the school through the Dean of students went to talk with the law enforcers to map a way forward on the future of the involved students.
Issues of mental health are alarmingly high in most academic institutions. University of Livingstonia as an institution should have a Counseling Team and experts trained in the field of mental health to deal with such issues.
How best is the university doing to deal with such a problem so far??
Despite the university having a mandate to educate the students and train them into better leaders of tomorrow as they say, these mental health issues can turn the future of the country into ashes if not taken care of.
Noting this, Pamtondo Online thought it was good for the university to introduce a platform or an office that will be dealing with mental health issues 24/7 and if the university already has such an organ on campus, it could be wise to conduct an orientation program which will educate the students about such an office and it’s function.
The students must also be taught how to identify suicidal signs in their friends and how to deal with them in order to save lives. Another suggestion is the introduction of a position in the Students Union which will specifically deal with mental health issues.
In such a way, both the students and the university will benefit.
NB, together we can defeat suicide and we can produce a conducive environment for all of us. It starts with you.
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